Nikon 1 series: The tests

It’s rare in the world of photography for a manufacturer to come up with an entirely new product line from scratch, and it’s equally rare for a famous manufacturer such as Nikon (the world market leader) to offer a new lens mount (Nikon CX). This makes the launch of the Nikon 1 line (Nikon J1 and Nikon V1) a major event in photography this fall.

Interchangeable Lens Cameras? Which cameras? Used how?

The appearance of the Nikon 1 confirms how interested manufacturers have become in new camera models that use interchangeable lenses. Panasonic and Olympus were the first to take their places in this market, with models based on their standard micro 4/3 sensors, and as such, they’ve enjoyed quite a bit of success. Sony then followed with its NEX series. Nikon is thus the first top-rated brand in the world of DSLRs to enter a market in which the first ones to arrive have achieved dominance.

Canon, second place in the world of DSLRs, still hasn’t shown any indication that it will produce its own line for this market.

The technologies and design choices for Interchangeable Lens cameras differ depending on the manufacturer. This said, we can describe several points that they all have in common. They all—

Retain the simplicity of compact cameras

Have a minimal footprint

Achieve image quality that approaches that of reflex cameras

In summary, Interchangeable Lens cameras can be of interest to you if —

You own a high-end bridge camera such as a Canon G12 or Nikon P7000, and while you’re satisfied with the size of your camera, you find that the image quality isn’t good enough.

You own a DSLR, but you are looking for a lighter and smaller camera that you can take with you anywhere.

Why is Nikon changing the game?

Finding a compromise between a small footprint and image quality sometimes requires “squaring the circle”: To achieve the same kind of image quality as an SLR, one needs the best possible sensor... and one with the biggest possible surface area. But a large sensor also means bulkiness, because the larger the sensor surface, the larger and more cumbersome the lenses tend to be.

Interchangeable Lens cameras attempt to achieve this compromise between footprint and image quality, all while retaining a size close to that of compact cameras. In this race of millimeters, the only point all manufacturers have in common is that of abandoning the reflex mechanism, since getting rid of the mirror (the “reflex” in the term ”SLR”) saves a significant amount of space, particularly in terms of physical depth.

Beyond this, the manufacturers have made different choices:

Panasonic and Olympus offer a 4/3-format sensor (which Olympus also uses in its professional cameras). This choice allows for a relatively small footprint while providing satisfactory image quality.

Sony offers the same very good sensors for its NEX cameras as it uses for its reflex APS-Cs, but as we have frequently indicated previously, the lenses on these APS-C sensor models are often very cumbersome. Unless they choose pancake lenses such as the Sony E16mm f/2.8, photographers can end up with a camera that is as bulky as a traditional DSLR.

Thus with its Nikon 1 line, Nikon is the only brand that offers a completely new system with a new line of small-sized lenses and a new type of sensor. This last is even smaller than the 4/3 sensors found in the Panasonic G3 and the Olympus PEN EP3.

Further readings for the Nikon 1 series: The tests

To provide photographers with a broader perspective about mobiles, lenses and cameras, here are links to articles, reviews, and analyses of photographic equipment produced by DxOMark, renown websites, magazines or blogs.

Announced in June 2011, the Panasonic Lumix DMC GF3 will be of interest to photographers who can afford an easy-to-use compact camera with interchangeable lenses and an image quality superior to that of other compact cameras (such as the Canon Powershot S100).

Nikon put a lot of effort to design lenses that offer the best balance of image quality and portability, and apparently it paid off. Let’s look closely at how these lenses perform compared to their direct competitors.

Introduced this past summer, the PEN E-PL3 and PEN E-PM1 are the latest micro-four-thirds cameras from Olympus. These 2 new models are intended to complete the PEN EP3 series and thus offer a whole range of compact cameras with interchangeable lenses. Each model offers a different set of controls with a different size, depending on whether you need more directly-accessible controls while shooting, or if you favor a pocketable camera. But as we'll see, given that they're based on the same sensor as the PEN EP3, these cameras perform equally well (or poorly) in term of image quality.

The long awaited and rumored mirrorless Nikon camera was finally announced today. And it’s not just one but a pair of new mirrorless compact “1 System” cameras that are coming to compete with the Sony NEX 7, the Pentax Q, the Olymps PEN EP3 or even the Fujifilm FinePix X10. These 2 first models in this new Nikon 1 series are the Nikon J1 and Nikon V1.